Pokemon can be caught, evolved, found in different locations, and even hatched in Ruby & Sapphire. Filling the Pokedex is a persistent goal, and the process for doing so is both involved and varied. Both titles have Pokedexes, the first covering the original 151 Pokemon and the second focusing on Generation 3. Pokemon Pinball’s real strength, however, comes from its unique secondary objective. The actual pinball simulation could be better, but the wide variety of gameplay scenarios still satisfied players. Various Pokemon made up the play spaces of each game's two available tables, and a variety of different board transitions and minigames offered even more cameos. Pokemon Pinball played like a typical pinball game, with the main objective being to set a high score. The game was successful enough to produce a direct sequel, the 2003 Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire for the GBA. Pokemon’s original wave of popularity was still going strong in the summer of 1999, and that’s when the original Pokemon Pinball hit North America.
